Fort Myers Miracle baseball team changes ownership

Jason Hochberg is the new owner of the Fort Myers Miracle. He purchased the team from the Goldkang Group, which owned the team since 1989.(Photo: Andrew West/news-press.com)Buy Photo

The Fort Myers Miracle have changed owners for the first time in a quarter century.

Jason Hochberg, a 42-year-old former energy company lawyer and chief operating officer, created the SJS Beacon company earlier this year with the goal of buying a minor league baseball franchise.

Hochberg didn't want just any team. He targeted the Miracle, the Class A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins since 1992. The Twins relocated their spring training headquarters to Hammond Stadium and the Lee County Sports Complex in 1991.

"I've always been very passionate about sports — baseball, football and basketball, but baseball in particular," Hochberg said Monday afternoon on the fourth floor of Hammond Stadium, less than two hours after the sale was announced. He overlooked an expansive view of the 9,300-capacity ballpark.

"I've always been looking at the business of sports," Hochberg said. "Having my own company, that allows me to combine business with something I love, and that's what led me to the Miracle."

Fans would not notice any immediate changes, Hochberg said, but in future seasons he said he wanted to bring in more special events such as concerts and celebrities in conjunction with the games.

Marvin Goldklang, 71 and the principal owner of the Goldklang Group, which had owned the team since September of 1989, said the sale felt bittersweet.

Goldklang said he never advertised the team for sale. Hochberg approached Goldklang about purchasing the Miracle through Andrew Moon of the Sports Advisory Group, which brokers the sales of minor league franchises.

"He had a particular interest in the Fort Myers Miracle," Moon said of Hochberg. "He saw the successful history of the franchise. The opportunity to work with the Minnesota Twins was all very compelling."

Goldklang and Hochberg did not want to divulge the sale price.

Moon and experts from Forbes and Sports Business Journal estimated Class A baseball affiliates, depending on their location and attendance, to be worth in the $7 million to $10 million range.

The Minnesota Twins pay the players, coaching and training staffs, and Lee County maintains the complex. The Miracle have eight full-time employees and a game-day staff that approaches 215 at spring training games and at some of the bigger-draw regular season games such as the home opener and mid-summer fireworks nights.

The Twins have a 30-year lease agreement with Lee County of the sports complex. The Twins' affiliation agreement with the Miracle expires after the 2018 season, but Hochberg said he expected the partnership to continue thereafter.

The Miracle drew 121,832 fans last season, third in the Florida State League behind the Clearwater Threshers and Daytona Cubs with an average attendance of 1,904 fans.

Goldklang, who is a minority owner of the New York Yankees, said he bought the Miracle for about $1 million. Singer Jimmy Buffett and actor Bill Murray were minority co-owners of the Miracle until Monday. Goldklang joked that he would not be the only one owing those two money, but then he got serious.

"It's one of the tougher days I've had," Goldklang said. "When I bought it, the team had no major league affiliation because the prior owners of the team had gotten the franchise to the point where major league organizations didn't want to be involved with it. It had no employees, and it had no place to play.

"I woke up the next morning after I purchased the team, and my wife was asking me, 'Why did you do this?' "

The Miami Miracle played in Pompano Beach at a stadium also then used by the Florida International University baseball team. Goldklang had envisioned building a new stadium in Miami Beach until two things happened: Major League Baseball awarded a franchise to Miami, and the Minnesota Twins relocated to Fort Myers.

"We were fortunate that our needs coincided with the Twins' interest," Goldklang said. "We moved to Fort Myers in 1992. Since then, you could say the rest is history.

"We've had a phenomenal partnership, not only with the Twins for all of these years, but with Lee County and with the community."

Goldklang said he would not have sold the Miracle had he not believed the team would be left in good hands.

Hochberg had his foray into sports business as a part-owner of the Springfield Armor, an NBA Development League franchise that is relocating to Grand Rapids, Mich.

"From everything I've heard to meeting with them, they are great to work with," Hochberg said of the Minnesota Twins. "They are focused on the farm system. The farm system is the lifeblood of the team. They put a lot of resources into it. They treat their players very well. It's a partnership I want to continue for the foreseeable future."

— Connect with this reporter: David Dorsey (Facebook), @DavidADorsey (Twitter).